"They were all over, in the lake and along the shores there," Steinbruecker said. "I've never seen anything like it."

What happened to the fish was unclear on Saturday. Bloomingdale Park District officials could not be reached for comment, and neither could officials from the village's public works department. Both agencies were trying to deal with the problem on Saturday, according to Bloomingdale police.

The incident in Bloomingdale occurred at roughly the same time as the discovery of hundreds of dead fish in Chicago's Garfield Park lagoon. Officials from the Chicago Park District and Illinois Department of Nature Resources have suggested that the Garfield Park incident might have been caused by temperature changes resulting when recent cold rain hit the warm water of the lagoon.

DNR spokeswoman Januari Smith said Saturday that she wasn't familiar with the Bloomingdale incident. She added that she hadn't heard of any widespread problems in lakes or ponds stocked with fish.